Hundreds of foreign students from Romania, China, Nigeria and Ukraine, who were on a Work-and-Travel program to the US have recently gone on strike, complaining that what was supposed to be a cultural exchange turned into long hours of cheap labor.

400 foreign students, who work in a chocolate packaging factory, were put to work lifting heavy boxes and packing Reese’s candies, Kit-Kats and Almond Joys on a fast-moving production line, many of them on a night shift, according to the New York Times.

After paycheck deductions for fees associated with the program and for their rent, students said at a rally in front of the huge packing plant that many of them were not earning nearly enough to recover what they had spent in their home countries to obtain their visas.

Each summer, the State Department brings many thousands of foreign students to the United States on the international work-travel program, with visas that are known as J-1.

Read more about the situation here. More about the Work and travel program here.

editor@romania-insider.com